


On Guardian Psychology

by Dragonzzilla



Series: Destiny [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: In Character, In Universe, Leaning on the Fourth Wall, Other, as typical in the setting, character exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 14:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16557434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonzzilla/pseuds/Dragonzzilla
Summary: An excerpt from 'On Guardian Psychology', a treatise written by Logan, Warlock





	On Guardian Psychology

**Author's Note:**

> I recently downloaded Destiny 2 for free on battle.net, which means I'm on a Destiny kick again. Man, I love the setting and the worldbuilding, but often times I feel like the limitations of the game hampers its true potential. Despite everything we've learned, we know criminally little about the state of affairs in the Last City, for instance, the very thing we fight for. Anyways, I felt like writing about Guardian psychology, taking inspiration from the fact the player actions are canonical to Guardian behavior. This piece is written in universe by my Warlock, Logan, who is far more crass and vulgar in person, but he takes his studies seriously. Took me about three days to write the whole thing, and there might be some oversights, but I believe it's ready.

There are reasons why Guardians don't interact with civilians. I do not refer to those that offer their services to the Tower or those faction toadies. I mean the _real_  civilians, the ones that live down in the City, the ones we fight to keep safe yet meet only once in a blue moon. I know Guardians who can count on their fingers how many times they've met a genuine civilian. Understand, there is no code that prohibits such fraternization, and doubtless there are Guardians who know a civilian quite well, but they're the minority. Most Guardians avoid contact altogether yet may not understand _why_. At this point, it's become a part of our culture and many younger Guardians simply take it into stride. But once you've been around long enough, you start understanding the reasons why we live so far apart from our charges.

The first and most obvious reason is that Guardians keep busy. Even outside major offenses where we need every Guardian we can get, such as the Battle of Six Fronts or the Twilight Gap, Guardians are always scouting, patrolling, salvaging, and other productive ventures outside the safety of the City. Our resurrective immortality means we're cut out for jobs that are otherwise too dangerous for normal people. Of course, our powers are best used to fight the City's innumerable enemies, but when the Wall was first being raised, just as many Guardians dedicated themselves to ordinary construction. It's a deadly line of work; there's always a risk of falling or equipment malfunctioning. But we don't need to worry about those things. If we fall, we get right back up. If we're crushed, our Ghost makes us good as new once we're unburied. Not to mention, we do not tire from physical labor. Naturally, you can see the benefits of this. The Wall's construction was a massive undertaking, and it wasn't without its troubles, but it would have taken a lot longer without Guardians. We do not tire, we do not eat, and we do not sleep. We literally work harder and longer than humanly possible...

Which leads me to my second point, one that goes over most people's heads, including Guardians: We're not like normal people. We're still functionally alive in spite of the rumors. Blood pumps through our veins, we can still feel the wind on our face, and our cheeks flush when we're embarrassed like anyone else. But we also do not experience hunger or thirst or fatigue, for the Light sustains us. We can still eat and drink and sleep of course, but we have no need for these things like a human does. Some Guardians do these things recreationally, but I know a man who hasn't eaten in centuries and is no worse for wear. A civilian might find that hard to believe, but without the pangs that plague mortal beings, it's actually quite easy to become lost in our work and forget such 'luxuries'. If that wasn't enough, I have never found any record of a Guardian becoming sick or fevered or catching a disease. Naturally, more hedonistic Guardians take see this as an excuse to eat, drink, smoke, and fucking to their heart's content. Speaking of the latter, a Guardian can have as much sex as they want and nothing will ever come of it, good or ill. Guardians are, without exception, infertile. No one truly knows why, though there are theories, the most popular of which proposes that being infused with the Light renders one barren. Or perhaps the Traveler simply does not want its Guardians to become distracted, as some believe. Some mourn this fact, but our lifestyle certainly isn't conducive to raising a healthy child (though this hasn't stopped Guardians from taking on wards in the past). Even the compulsion to breed is lost to us. Guardians want for nothing, biologically speaking. Mortality is an intrinsically hectic state in which individuals are at the mercies of biological needs. We must eat, we must drink, we must sleep, and as some would argue, we must breed. _Unless_  you're a Guardian. Indeed, once the Light touches you, many of the problems that plague the 'living' vanish... and we forget what it's like. It's so easy to forget just how fragile life is. Immortality is certainly useful in our line of work, but it irrevocably changes you. Our morals, whether we realize it or not, shift. We ironically start placing less value on our own lives since we know we can come back from most anything. I've come across field reports of Guardians disarming mines by stepping on them. And of course, there are the grisly Thanatonauts, who repeatedly kill themselves to record their experiences. We cannot die, we do not age, and we do not ail; we have effectively become "post-human", a concept that predates the Golden Age. So can we truly relate to our fellow man?  We care about the safety of the City's citizens, yes, but can we truly identify with their plights? Of not getting enough to eat, of not sleeping well, or falling ill, or losing a loved one to natural causes or accidents? We may sympathize with them, but we cannot truly relate to them. Friendships are formed on common ground, and quite simply we don't have much in common with them. Newborn Guardians are the most likely to try and befriend civilians, for while our memories have been wiped clean, we still seek companionship. But over time, one realizes how little we have in common with the common folk. We are needless while their lives are defined by their needs. And the more one sees in the field, the more compelled we are to find someone who understands. But how _can_ they understand? Most civilians know the Fallen only through nursery rhymes or stories they've heard from a friend's cousin's neighbor who knows a Guardian. They've never faced a Captain brandishing a shock-blade, intent on flaying you alive. We fight so they _don't_ have to. Still, battle takes its toll. Though our bodies are now perpetual motion machines, our minds are still as mortal as ever, and free from the constraints that would normally dictate our lives, some minds struggle to cope with the change, so over the course of a Guardian's long life, one might develop their own eccentricities or quirks. I believe we all know a Guardian who's a bit strange, and no wonder. Normal soldiers need to concern themselves with meeting their needs between battles, which leaves hardly any time to pursue any leisurely pursuits. Guardians do not have that problem. Many fill the time by studying or training, while others take up hobbies such as knitting or Sparrow racing, but there are some who, left to their own devices, develop... unique forms of entertainment. Impromptu dancing, scaling tall structures just to prove they _can_ , performing daredevil Sparrow maneuvers, harmlessly heckling Tower personnel. Hell, some even fling themselves to their doom knowing they'll be brought back. Tales of inane Guardian antics have spread throughout the City, and now many civilians, while still grateful for our efforts, keep a healthy distance from us, which only drives the wedge further between Guardian and civilian. We're simply different kinds of beast.


End file.
